Cuba Expedition Update -“juntos pero no revueltos”

Hola from Havana, Cuba! After what has seemed an eternal delay and endless meetings, telephone calls, and philosophical discussions about bureaucracy, we are planning a 10am departure tomorrow from Havana’s Marina Hemingway to the easternmost extent of Cuba’s Los Colorados Archipelago near Cayo Levisa, along Cuba’s northwest coast.

Unfortunately, the long delay has cut my travel window short. Since I must return to the U.S. on Tuesday, I will not be able to travel on the same vessel as our colleagues at the University of Havana’s Center for Marine Research (Centro de Investigaciones Marinas), who hopefully will also depart tomorrow for the westernmost extent of Los Colorados. Instead, I’ll be voyaging with a PBS camera crew. But even though our Cuban friends and we will be on separate vessels at opposite ends of the barrier reef, we will be, as the Cubans say, “juntos pero no revueltos” — together, but not scrambled (as in eggs). We’re all after the same thing: To explore Cuba’s most unexplored coastal waters, one of the most unknown corners of the Gulf of Mexico, assess the health of the coral reef ecosystems and better understand the processes that make them work and keep them healthy.

If technology and satellite cooperate, you’ll be able to track our position in near-real time on the 1planet1ocean tracking page. If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll also see periodic position updates from me as I “tweet” via satellite.

Expeditions are the foundation of our research, but involve heavy doses of resources, patience, determination, red tape, good weather, and good luck. Despite the frustrations and the long wait, I expect that the taste of salt water will be especially sweet tomorrow. I look forward to sharing our results with you soon.